Alterna Center for Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship

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Address

QuetzaltenangoQZ

Guatemala

About Us

Alterna estimates that 95% of current and potential entrepreneurs in Latin America are underserved by traditional incubator, accelerator and social development programs. Founded in 2010 to catalyze the potential of this “Missing Middle”, Alterna empowers people to create, launch and scale social enterprises that generate positive impact in their communities.

At the core of our model, we serve current and potential entrepreneurs who aim to solve social problems through business. These businesses—commonly known as social enterprises—address the negative effects of these problems, while increasing shared value for entrepreneurs. Our mission is to catalyze transformative entrepreneurship from the ground up, with the goal of creating an self-sustaining platform for development that can be built on in years to come. We are building this platform in three ways:

Entrepreneurship:

We cultivate entrepreneurship across under-served communities through our three-stage Cultivation Program, designed to provide business services for entrepreneurs as they create, launch and scale social enterprises.

Expertise & Innovation:

We build and launch our own high-impact social ventures that serve as examples of sustainable business models, opening new markets, raising awareness about existing issues and providing solutions to critical local needs.

Ecosystem:

We bridge the support gap between local entrepreneurs and resources that can accelerate their impact by leveraging partnerships with the private, public and academic sectors and hosting industry events to foster connection within the ecosystem of entrepreneurship.